June 20, 2018

Kirstjen Nielsen Confronted by Protesters While Eating at Mexican Restaurant

“If kids don’t eat in peace, you don’t eat in peace.”

A group of demonstrators directed chants of “shame” and “apologize” at Kirstjen Nielsen, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, as she dined at a Mexican restaurant in Washington, DC on Tuesday, amid outcry over the Trump administration’s policy separating immigrant children from their parents at the border.

“If kids don’t eat in peace, you don’t eat in peace,” one demonstrator is heard shouting in a video recorded by members of the DC chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.

“How can you enjoy a Mexican dinner as you’re deporting and imprisoning tens of thousands of people who come here seeking asylum in the United States?” another asked.

Nielsen, who has become the public face of the administration’s immigration policy, largely ignored the protesters inside MXDC Cocina Mexicana, an upscale eatery in downtown DC. Her head remained slightly down through most of the protest as her security detail stood dividing the secretary from the group. At one point, she made a phone call.

Nielsen eventually left the restaurant with her security team.

“While having a work dinner tonight, the Secretary and her staff heard from a small group of protesters who share her concern with our current immigration laws that have created a crisis on our southern border,” Tyler Houlton, a department spokesman, said in a statement after the dinner concluded. “Secretary Nielsen encourages all—including this group—who want to see an immigration system that works, that contributes to our economy, that protects our security, and that reflects our values to reach out to Members of Congress and seek their support to close the terrible immigration loopholes that have made our system a mess.”

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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